POLICY REPORT
DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING
Date: October 20, 1995
Dept. File No. PAJ
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of Land Use and Development
SUBJECT: Billboards
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare
an amendment to the Sign By-law to no longer permit billboards
in the city, and that the By-law be referred to a Public
Hearing.
As an alternative, the following is presented for CONSIDERATION.
B. THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare
an amendment to the Sign By-law to simplify and clarify the
regulations which permit billboards in the city, and that the
By-law be referred to a Public Hearing.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of A
and puts forward B for CONSIDERATION in place of A.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council policy, as reflected in the Sign By-law, is to allow billboards
in several commercial and all industrial zoning districts, subject to
location, spacing, height and size restrictions.
Council policy with respect to billboards on City-owned sites controlled
by Real Estate Services is to permit renewal of existing billboard
leases but not to enter into any new leases.
SUMMARY
If the Sign By-law is to continue to permit billboards, the billboard
regulations must be simplified and clarified to eliminate endless
discussions taking place between staff and billboard industry
representatives on by-law interpretation, to ensure that the regulations
are applied consistently and fairly, to streamline billboard permit
processing and to free up staff time for processing other sign permits.
- 2 -
However, staff feel that the time has come for Vancouver to get in line
with its neighbouring municipalities and no longer permit billboards.
Consequently, staff recommend an amendment to the Sign By-law to
prohibit new billboards. If Council disagrees with RECOMMENDATION A,
staff believe amendments are needed to simplify and clarify the
billboard regulations, as set out in CONSIDERATION B.
PURPOSE
This report recommends that Council amend the Sign By-law to prohibit
any new billboard signs in the City of Vancouver.
BACKGROUND
Vancouver's neighbouring municipalities (Burnaby, New Westminster,
Richmond, Delta, Surrey, Coquitlam, Port Moody, North and West
Vancouver) all prohibit billboards. According to a billboard industry
representative, Vancouver is one of only four municipalities in the
entire Province which allows new billboards (Nanaimo, Kamloops and
Prince George being the others).
Billboards are permitted in four C (commercial) districts, DD, BCPED,
all M and I (industrial) districts, and any CD-1 district which has been
assigned to one of the above districts for sign regulation purposes.
Some restrictions apply which prohibit billboards on portions of Georgia
and Burrard Streets, above bridge decks and ramps, and above the ALRT
guideway.
Until a few years ago, the billboard industry in Vancouver was dominated
by one company, Seaboard Advertising Company. There are now two other
companies in the Vancouver market. The competition for billboard sites
has led to innumerable challenges of staff's interpretation of the Sign
By-law billboard regulations, and an increasing number of appeals to the
Board of Variance. From January to mid-October 1995, the Board of
Variance heard 19 billboard appeals, all but one of which were opposed
by staff. Seven appeals were allowed. In the same period, sign permits
for 49 billboards were issued, and 22 were refused, or withdrawn due to
non-compliance with By-law regulations.
Planning and Permits and Licenses staff are very concerned about what is
happening with billboard applications and permits. These concerns
include:
- the amount of time required to process billboard sign applications
(estimated at a minimum of four hours per application) due to the
need to site check each application because staff cannot rely on
the applicant's submitted information;
- 3 -
- the amount of time required to explain and defend staff's
interpretation of the By-law's regulations, often in response to
one billboard company questioning why a permit was issued to a
competing company;
- the effect that billboard processing time is having on the
processing of other sign applications;
- the uncertainty about whether staff's interpretation of the
billboard regulations is enforceable; and
- the visual impact of billboards on the city in general, and on
residential developments which are increasingly located in
districts which allow billboards.
Section 10.3 of the Sign By-law, which contains most of the regulations
which apply to billboards, is attached as Appendix A. The regulations
which are causing the most interpretive problems are flagged with a dot
in the left margin, and examples of the problems are given below the
regulations.
DISCUSSION
If the Sign By-law is to continue to permit billboards, many of the
billboard regulations need to be rewritten to remove ambiguity and the
need for staff interpretations, and to ensure that Council's intent with
respect to billboards is clearly articulated.
However, before staff spend time rewriting the regulations, staff would
like Council to consider whether it wishes to continue to permit
billboards in the city. If Council disagrees with staff's
recommendation to prohibit billboards, staff will undertake the work to
bring forward recommended amendments to the By-law to allow billboards
to continue to be permitted.
Billboards are one of only two types of signs permitted in the city
which can contain exclusively third-party advertising. (Signs in
conjunction with a mural are also permitted to be exclusively third-
party advertising but the sign is limited to ten percent of the area of
the mural. Council also allowed various third-party advertising signs
for GM Place.) Third-party advertising refers to the advertising of a
product or service which is not available on the site at which the sign
is located. The restriction on third-party advertising is based on a
fundamental principle of the Sign By-law that the main function of
signage is to identify the location of a business or organization, with
advertising a secondary benefit. - 4 -
Billboards are considerably larger than most other permitted signs in
the city. Because of their cost, most billboard advertisements are for
multi-national or national businesses (McDonald's, Air Canada).
However, some are for local developments and events (Oakridge Centre,
Showboat), and charitable organizations (United Way).
Billboards utilize public streets for advertising purposes. The City
has committed significant staff resources to improving streets through
design control of private developments, and by requiring or providing
street trees, decorative paving, and street furniture. Staff question
whether continued allowance of large, often unsightly third-party
advertising signage is consistent with other public realm objectives and
efforts.
Staff note that there are no discretionary provisions in the Sign By-
law. Consequently, a billboard permit cannot be refused because of the
billboard's negative impact on the streetscape, views or adjacent
residential development, if the billboard complies with By-law
regulations. It will be difficult to draft billboard regulations which
will prevent all future undesirable situations, even if the regulations
are more restrictive than present. In staff's view, billboards have no
public benefit to justify the erection of such large, often unsightly
signage which uses city streets and lanes for advertising purposes.
(Bus shelters, on the other hand, which also contain billboard-type
advertising, do provide a public benefit by way of weather protection
and seating for transit users.)
Staff also question whether it is reasonable to continue to prohibit
first-party signage on the side of a mid-block building when a billboard
is allowed there. The prohibition of first-party signs on the sides of
mid-block buildings was intended to reduce sign proliferation by
limiting signage to street frontages, and to businesses occupying that
frontage. However, this objective is undermined in those districts
where billboards are permitted.
Staff also note that billboards are increasingly across from or near to
residential developments since there is no regulation which prohibits
billboards close to residential premises. Staff have recently had
complaints from the strata-corporation of two major developments about a
new billboard constructed across the street. The impact of billboards
on residential premises will become more widespread as residential units
are added in areas which permit billboards such as Downtown and the
Marathon and Concord-Pacific lands.
- 5 -
On the other hand, staff recognise that the billboard industry will be
significantly affected if no new billboard are allowed. In addition to
opposition from billboard companies, Council can expect the companies
and organizations who advertise on billboards, including charitable
organizations, to oppose any amendment which would prohibit new
billboards.
However, staff feel that the negative visual impact of billboards
outweighs their benefits and consequently recommend that an amendment to
the Sign By-law to prohibit billboards be referred to Public Hearing.
The billboard industry, and companies and organizations which advertise
on billboards, would be given the opportunity to present their case for
billboards at the Public Hearing. If Council decides not to prohibit
billboards at the Public Hearing, staff would subsequently prepare
recommended amendments to simplify the billboard regulations for
consideration at a future Public Hearing.
Staff are not recommending that Council order removal of non-conforming
billboards. While Council has the power to order the removal of any
sign that has been non-conforming for more than five years (and many
existing billboards are non-conforming to current regulations), staff do
not feel forced removal is warranted since site redevelopment will
reduce the number of billboards over time. However, Council could order
removal at any time in the future, and should Council amend the By-law
to prohibit billboards, all billboards would be non-conforming in five
years and subject to Council's powers of removal.
City revenues from billboards on City-owned sites (approximately
$100,000 a year) would not be affected by a prohibition amendment since
staff are not recommending that existing billboards be removed, and
Council policy is not to allow new billboards on City-owned land
controlled by Real Estate Services.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommend that the Sign By-law be amended to no longer allow
billboards. If Council disagrees with RECOMMENDATION A, staff put
forward as CONSIDERATION B, amendments to the By-law to simplify the
billboard regulations to remove ambiguity and to enable billboard
applications to be processed efficiently and fairly. APPENDIX A
Page 1 of 3
SIGN BY-LAW BILLBOARD REGULATIONS
(- Indicates regulations which are causing problems.
Explanation of problems follows regulations)
10.3 Billboards
10.3.1 Number
No more than four billboards in respect of any site shall be
permitted, provided that each may have two copy areas mounted
back to back and be indexed.
10.3.2 Location and Spacing
(a) A billboard shall not encroach over a street;
- (b) A billboard shall not be located closer to a street than
the front face of the nearest building or beyond a
straight line drawn between the nearest points of any two
separate building faces fronting the street when the
billboard is located between the two buildings;
PROBLEMS:
1. What is meant by "front face", particularly on a
corner site?
2. In drawing a line between two separate building
faces, how far afield should regulation apply if the
buildings are located a long way from each other -
across a street, more than a city block?
- (c) A single-faced billboard shall be located not more than
2 m from the wall of a building and shall be parallel to
such wall, except that this distance may be increased up
to 7.5 m where the back face of the billboard is
constructed with an outer finish which conceals all
structural components;
PROBLEM:
1. To get around this regulation and Section 10.3.2(e),
on next page, a double-faced billboard angled to the
wall was proposed, even though the back face of the
billboard was not visible to anyone.
- (d) The spacing between billboards on the same street, facing
the same traffic flow, shall be not less than 90 m,
measured along the street; APPENDIX A
Page 2 of 3
PROBLEMS:
1. What is meant by "facing" traffic flow - do
billboards placed parallel to a street face traffic
flow?
2. On corner sites, what determines the street on which
the billboard is located - orientation of billboard?
distance to closest street? orientation of
buildings, if there are any? street to which site
is assigned for addressing purposes?
(e) A billboard shall be located no closer than:
(i) 60 m, measured perpendicularly to the face of the
billboards at its midpoint, to any Residential Area
as identified in Section 9.2;
(ii) 5 m to a street when the sign face is parallel to or
forms an angle of less than 30 degrees with such
street;
(iii) 30 m to any parking lot advertising sign; and
(iv) 15 m to any sign located in a bus shelter;
(f) A wall mounted billboard shall project not more than 600
mm, excluding externally mounted lighting.
10.3.3 Height and Clearance
The height of a billboard shall not exceed:
(a) 7 m, except that where it exceeds 6.25 m in height it
shall not exceed 3.7 m in width and shall incorporate all
electrical servicing wholly within the sign;
- (b) the height of the front roof line of any building on the
same site or an adjacent site, with or without the
intervention of a lane, whichever is less; and
PROBLEMS:
1. What is meant by "front roof line" and can there be
more than one on a building?
2. Can a billboard not exceed the front roof line of
the lowest building on a site even though that
building may be far away? - e.g., the PNE is one
site with a variety of building heights? APPENDIX A
Page 3 of 3
3. What is meant by "an adjacent site" and how close
does it have to be - within the same block? across a
street?
- (c) 300 mm above any side or rear roof line of any building
on the same site or an adjacent site, when the billboard
is within 5 m of the building.
PROBLEM:
1. Same as above for front roof line, but applicable to
side and rear roof lines.
10.3.4 Area and Dimensions
The sign area of a billboard shall not exceed 21.5 m›.
10.3.5 Landscaping
A landscaped planter the width of the billboard shall be
provided and maintained for any billboard exceeding 6.25 m in
height unless the Director of Planning is satisfied that
suitable landscaping already exists where the billboard is to
be placed. For all other billboards, landscaping shall be
provided and maintained to the satisfaction of the Director of
Planning.